Current In A Short Circuit May 2026

A 12V car battery with a short-circuit path of only 0.01Ω. [ I = \frac{12}{0.01} = 1200 \text{ amperes} ]

For a household 120V outlet, a dead short might have a total resistance of 0.2Ω (including wiring and breaker internal resistance). That yields: [ I = \frac{120}{0.2} = 600 \text{ amps} ] current in a short circuit

[ I = \frac{V}{R} ]

In a short circuit, that load is bypassed entirely. The current takes a "shortcut" directly from the positive terminal to the negative terminal (or from hot to neutral/ground) through a path of nearly zero resistance. To understand why the current skyrockets, we turn to Ohm’s Law: A 12V car battery with a short-circuit path of only 0